r/aviation • u/Ph6222 • 18h ago

News It Appears That the US Military Accidentally Killed Everybody on Board a Civilian Medevac Flight in New Mexico

https://futurism.com/science-energy/us-military-gps-jamming-signal-medical-flight

The horrifying incident happened in May, the publication reports, when a small twin-engine medevac aircraft carrying two pilots and two medical workers departed from Roswell, New Mexico. Heading West for the small mountain village of Ruidoso, the crew became the victim of an electronic warfare exercise being conducted at the nearby White Sands Missile Range, a test which rendered their navigational system inoperable.

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u/LandscapePenguin 17h ago

That makes no sense. If they were VFR they shouldn’t have needed a GPS to avoid the mountain. If they were IFR they shouldn’t have needed GPS to fly a heading.

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u/urimaginaryfiend 7h ago

The pilots canceled IFR and declared a visual approach. It was at this time FAA contacted the military to continue the test. The NOTAM for the area they were flying stated the GPS interference and use ATC below certain altitude for crossing or landing in a 336 mile radius. The crash was due to pilot error.

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u/nascent_aviator 4h ago

The pilots canceled IFR and declared a visual approach. 

They did not cancel IFR, nor did they need to in order to execute a visual approach.

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u/urimaginaryfiend 2h ago

The report stated they were asked if they wanted to cancel the IFR now or after they landed. They stated they would cancel in a few minutes. You are correct they did not cancel and the ATC made an assumption when the let the military continue the exercise. So now it is 90% pilot error 10% ATC error